Spirituality and Spiritual Enlightenment in Movies and Song Lyrics

[Shanmugam]

Generally, I prefer movies which show reality as it is, like a mirror. A lot of Indian movies are usually anti-reality, but things are getting better. There are a few Tamil lyrics written by Tamil poet Vairamuthu, who is currently the top lyricist in Tamil Movie Industry.

Let us start with a wonderful movie 'Anbe Sivam' (2003). The movie itself comes with a strong spiritual message and seems to be inspired by the Hollywood movie 'Planes, Trains and Automobiles '. You can compare the stills, they look alike:

Now, let us see a song in the movie with its English translation:

 

Quote

 

"யார் யார் சிவம்? நீ, நான், சிவம்!
வாழ்வே தவம்! அன்பே சிவம்!
ஆத்திகம் பேசும் அடியார்க்கெல்லாம் சிவமே அன்பாகும்!
நாத்திகம் பேசும் நல்லவருக்கோ அன்பே சிவமாகும்!
அன்பே சிவம்! அன்பே சிவம்! என்றும்,
அன்பே சிவம்! அன்பே சிவம்! எங்கும்,
அன்பின் பாதை சேர்ந்தவனுக்கு முடிவே இல்லையடா!
மனதின் நீளம் எதுவோ, அதுவே வாழ்வின் நீளமடா!

 - கவிப்பேரரசு வைரமுத்து

Who is Shiva? You and I are (essentially) Shiva!
Life is a penance; Love is Shiva!
For theists who surrender to the Almighty, Shiva is love!
For atheists who are good at heart, Love is Shiva!
Love is Shiva, Love is Shiva forever!
Love is Shiva, Love is Shiva everywhere!
If you walk on the path of life, there is no end for you..
The length of your mind (heart) is the length of your life!

 - Vairamuthu, The Great King of Poets

 

(If you do a search, you may be able to watch the movie online with English subtitles. I recommend watching both ''Planes, Trains and Automobiles ' and 'Anbe Shivam' if you are interested in both movies and spirituality.

Then there is another song from the movie Padayappa (1999). Here is just a part of that song, which I like very much:

 

Quote

 

தங்கத்தை பூட்டி வைத்தாய் வைரத்தை பூட்டி வைத்தாய்
உயிரை பூட்ட ஏது பூட்டு?
குழந்தை ஞானி இந்த இருவர் தவிர இங்கே
சுகமாய் இருப்பவர் யார் காட்டு!
"ஜீவன் இருக்கும் மட்டும் வாழ்கை நமது மட்டும்"
இது தான் ஞான சித்தர் பாட்டு!
இந்த பூமி சமம் நமக்கு;
நம் தெருவுக்குள் மத சண்டை ஜாதி சண்டை வம்பெதுக்கு?

 - கவிப்பேரரசு வைரமுத்து

You can lock the gold, you can lock the diamond,
but you cannot lock your life inside a body!
Is there anyone who is blissful except a child and a Jnani (self-realized person)?
Only as long as life is in the body, you can say that life belongs to only me.
This is the song of the Jnana Siddha!
Everyone has equal rights on the earth (like a family)..
Why should there be quarrels in our street based on religious and caste discrimination?

- Vairamuthu, The Great King of Poets

 

Controversies on Vairamuthu

People, especially politicians in Tamil Nadu have been trying to malign and defame Vairamuthu because of an absurd reason. Vairamuthu wrote a research article about a Tamil saint Andal, completely praising her Tamil poetry.  He also quoted a researcher who said that Andal was a Devadasi who lived and died in Sri Rangam temple in Tamil Nadu. Devadasi literally means, a slave to God! A huge community called Devadasi community existed in South India and the women who belonged to this community were brought up in temples right from the young age and were taught fine arts. Women are usually good at fine arts like dancing, singing, painting etc. You can check out Sreeja Renganath from Quora for example: https://www.quora.com/profile/Sreeja-Renganath. For me, she seems to be the living manifestation of Goddess Saraswathi, the Goddess of wisdom. I am not being polite, I am being brutally honest. Read this answer of hers, you will know what I mean: https://qr.ae/TUhfF0 (an English name which represents wisdom is 'Sophia'. This can be said like the English concept of Sarasvathi.)

Devadasis were wonderful women. Usually, they grew up to be extraordinarily devoted and consider God as the master and themselves as slaves. This is called Dasa Bhavana, the attitude that Hanuman is shown to have towards Rama in Indian epic Ramayana. These girls saw the Almighty as their husband. But later on, some people who were in charge of some temples started enslaving these Devadasis, took advantage of them and used them for prostitution. People who are so attached to the forms of deities (without realizing that all forms represent one truth), who claim that their 'God' can be insulted, should first realize that this tragedy that happened to Devadasi community was the actual insult to Goddess Saraswathi. Over the years, the word 'Devadasi' earned a bad connotation. The word 'Devadasi' can be very easily misunderstood nowadays as a synonym for prostitute. So, thousands of people who didn't even read Vairamuthu's essay started to verbally abuse him, threatened to kill him, forced him to apologize to Andal by coming to Andal's temple in Srivilliputtur and made his life difficult after that for no reason. Vairamuthu didn't do anything wrong in this regard!

Recently, he also has been accused of sexual harassment by a singer Chinmayi in Tamil Nadu, via the METOO campaign. Chinmayi made an allegation on him and the poet denied it.  Chinmayi says that it was something that happened more than a decade before. I have no idea who is saying the truth! But the impression that singer Chinmayi has made in general among the people of Tamil Nadu is not good. I sense a dominative character in Chinmayi and I suspect that she can lie or at least exaggerate something and make a mountain out of the molehill. Generally, after looking at the METOO issue, everyone gets this question: 'Is this campaign really helping common men and women or is it only targetting celebrities? Because I know very well that most of these common people in India do not use Twitter or have never heard about it. Also, what makes these people to think that a person is exactly the same as how he was more than a decade ago?'

People change... But forgiveness, which seems to be the backbone of all the world religions is becoming an out of date concept these days!

The truth will win one day! No matter what the truth is, it will win! I just wrote this post to help people see and focus the positive side of poet Vairamuthu. He is a legend..

For the sake of the argument, let us say that Vairamuthi was indeed guilty of things that he is accused of. We need to still realize the fact that every saint was once a sinner and every sinner has the potential to become a saint. A human being is not a static entity, it is a process! Even Valmiki, who wrote Ramayana is said to be a robber before he became a saint!

This post is an expression of gratitude to Andal herself. The month of Marghazhi (16 Dec 2018 – 13 Jan 2019) which is considered to be special for Andal is also approaching. The name Andal reminds me of my English teacher at Sri Jayendra Saraswathi Swamigal Golden Jubilee Matriculation higher secondary school, Sankarnagar, Tirunelveli -627357. My English teacher in my seventh standard was a teacher named Andal. Whenever someone says my English is good, please understand the whole credit goes to her. 

These are the letters  that she wrote to me many years before:

Wow, the first one is dated on 24th of  November, 1997. I didn't realize that the anniversary of this letter was over just a couple of days before until I began to write this paragraph... (I have already mentioned about this letter and a few other letters in my Quora answer here: https://qr.ae/TUhfPb )

Satyameva Jayate!

Please feel free to share similar experiences of yours... 

[Shanmugam]

Hey people.. No replies or further discussions on this post? The purpose of this post is to wipe off the bullshit that South Indian society has thrown on one of the greatest poets that our state has ever seen. So, this post is an effort to bring justice to the injustice that was done by many politicians to him, just for the sake of political advantage... Are you willing to support him? If yes, then just an 'yes' as a reply would be a sufficient, if you don't have nothing else to say!

We have the maturity to consider this entire earth as one family. Do you want to keep quiet when one of our family members is maligned for the sake of the selfish motives of the politicians? 

I have tweeted this post to the major politicians of Tamil Nadu too. I used to tweet them often with a lot of questions and so far no one has replied  But I hope some one will, one day!

If you can, please retweet this:

Mentioning my friends in this forum, who know me for a long time :

@Anna1 @Joseph Maynor @Shin @Leo Gura @Nahm @SOUL

 

[Shanmugam]

bumping the thread... 

[Shanmugam]

[Ananta]

@Shanmugam Hi!... Am I to say, "yes"? If so, then, Yes. Of course, I would support someone being wronged or accused, for no reason. Even though I know nothing about South Indian Society or how that will bring justice to injustice for this person, but good luck with it all friend. ?

[Shanmugam]

20 hours ago, Anna1 said:

@Shanmugam Hi!... Am I to say, "yes"? If so, then, Yes. Of course, I would support someone being wronged or accused, for no reason. Even though I know nothing about South Indian Society or how that will bring justice to injustice for this person, but good luck with it all friend. ?

Hi thank you... I just wanted more visibility to this thread..   I had no idea why this thread had no reply, but I posted this since there is so much going on here in India. But I did think that the lack of replies was probably due to cultural differences..Thanks a lot for the reply.. 

[MiracleMan]

10 minutes ago, Shanmugam said:

Hi thank you... I just wanted more visibility to this thread..   I had no idea why this thread had no reply, but I posted this since there is so much going on here in India. But I did think that the lack of replies was probably due to cultural differences..Thanks a lot for the reply.. 

I see a lot of similarities in America and India in regards to the political correctness movement, like this below.  Maybe I'm wrong who knows, but it doesn't seem to be limited to just America.

The title seems a bit egotistical, but I think the content is good.

 

[Shanmugam]

@MiracleMan I choose titles according to what people search for. It is called Search Engine Optimization. I don't care what kind of connotation the title gives; I just want the message to reach many people. My actions usually do not reflect my intentions. Four years after realization, I learnt that the world is thousand times crazier than I thought,., Remember, the number of silent readers of a forum is a lot more than the number of active and registered members.. 

When I look at the condition in India, it looks very scary. I feel like I live in a madhouse where everyone is suffering around me but wants to pretend that he is not! But grace seems to work mysteriously and I see miracles happening around me every day. So, I am pretty sure that there is going to be a major change in the world.  Last morning, I was full of tears seeing how all the suffering I went through were blessing in disguise.. Even my prayers were answered and there is a strong scent of gratitude in my experience. I am about to cry at any moment. 

Anyway, Here is a Facebook post that I made today. It is a riddle:

He sees through the eyes of every being, knows through the awareness of every manifest organism and walks using the legs of every piece of life.

As an Octopus he has eight legs; as the son of Man, he has two legs; as the son of God, he is the inner light of every little thing that eats, procreates and decomposes!

He is beyond time and space.

He exists as the love of every mother, as the care of every father, as the company of every brother, as the support of every sister, as the closeness of every wife and as the convenience of every servant.

He shakes hands with you through every friend you see and he pays your wages as every boss you work for. He is the one who eats and he is the one who gets eaten, yet he neither eats; nor gets eaten. He is the essence of every word, every sound, every sentence, every contradiction, every confusion, everything that is good and bad; NOT EVEN AN ATOM MOVES WITHOUT HIS WILL...

He is the one who robs, which gets robbed and the act of robbing; yet he neither robs nor gets robbed. He is beyond the limits of human intellect even though intellect itself is a manifestation of him; he is beyond the power of human vision, even though human vision itself is one of his manifestations!. He is beyond the power of human ears and yet he is everything that you hear...

He is She; She is it, and it is You! ? ... His kingdom is within you and He is closer than the mane behind your neck! All praise ultimately goes to him and no one else.. He is the good shepherd and the sheep, he is the Gopalan and the Gomata; he is the Pashu and he is the Pathi! He is the Kartha, the doer; every biochemical living piece on planet earth is just a puppet; this puppet show is going on for aeons as a holy game of God.... you suffer, you laugh, you enjoy, you grow, you sin and someday you may even become a saint.. but you know, it is all in the game... in the eyes of God, there is no discrimination!

He is the sweetness of the milk and the sourness of the toddy; He is the intoxication and he is the clarity.. everything happens to according to His will and His will alone.. He is both the uppercase and the lower case letters and the one who is beyond, before, beneath, below and in the middle of all the letters.. He is the first and he is the last, yet He has no beginning and no end!

He expands through and from you in all directions and pervades everything, including every single stone pillar on earth, every single speck of dust and every heart that beats...

He is every mistake and he is every correction ?... He is... Only He is... He is the one truth which is known, spoken, and understood by various means, forms, names and practices by wise people...

Who is He? 

Clue: The answer is inside you, within you and lies very close to you; close your eyes and keep looking until you find it...

 

[Shin]

I wish I could love like you do.

[SOUL]

I appreciate your passion and your peace. I may not be the audience for this but please continue to find your genuine expression.

[Haumea2018]

Quote

Also, what makes these people to think that a person is exactly the same as how he was more than a decade ago?'

They don't care.

This is about cultural warfare and destroying the icons of the opposition that stands in their way.

A decade is barely a blip.

Here in the US they discredit everything in the past, no matter how far, no matter if it possesses much good, for being insufficiently "woke."

It's just cultural vandalism.

 

Edited December 4, 2018 by Haumea2018